Upper Perk's 285-pound Bennett pins down 100th win

by Don Seeley, Pottstown Mercury Sports Editor

Posted on January 8, 2009

POTTSTOWN — Jared Bennett was a bundle of nerves early Wednesday night, pacing up and down the Pottstown High School hallways. And when you happen to tower well over six feet tall and carry around 285 pounds, well, that's a big bundle, or one heck of a lot of nerves.

But the Upper Perkiomen heavyweight was cool, calm, and collected when he stepped on the wrestling mat less than an hour later and took just 28 seconds to record a pin and his 100th career win that highlighted the Indians' 76-5 romp over the host Trojans.

"This was a big one, a big match for me ... and I was really nervous," Bennett said after becoming one of the few area as well as District 1 upperweights to reach the milestone in three seasons.

For Bennett, though, it wasn't so much reaching the coveted mark as it was overcoming the obstacle, or obstacles, to get exactly where he was Wednesday evening.

A little over two years ago, a bad decision here and there led to being placed at Glen Mills for his sophomore year. Some of the simplest things he took for granted, like sitting down for dinner with his parents and having weekends off, were gone.

"That's when I channeled all my energy into wrestling," Bennett recalled. "Not seeing my family hurt, but they were very supportive of me."

And the turn around began.

He went 37-6 that year. Last winter, after being cleared to re-enroll at Upper Perkiomen, he strung together 25 straight late-season wins which earned him sectional, district, and regional titles and a spot in the PIAA-Class AAA Championships. So far this season, he's medaled at the Beast of the East Classic and went a spotless 8-0 at the Battlefield Duals in Virginia last weekend.

Bennett admits to having considerably higher goals this season ... and he pinned the first one down Wednesday night.

"A few years ago ... no, I would've never thought about (100 wins)," he said. "But I remember the first time I stepped on the mat (at Glen Mills) and won my first match. It was different, and it was something that helped me put my past behind me."

Upper Perkiomen head coach Tom Hontz, along with his parents and older brother, Derek — a former standout for the Indians now serving in the armed forces — have played big roles in helping Bennett keep that troubled past behind him, too.

"They've all been great, especially my brother," Bennett said. "I've seen his name on the banner (of 100-match winners) at our school for a long time now. I've always wanted to get my own name up there alongside him."

Bennett took care of that, and helped the rest of the Indians (3-0, 11-5 overall) take care of the Trojans (1-2, 3-5), who were a little under the weather with four forfeits. The Indians added in seven more pins and a major decision to create the final spread, while the hosts avoided the shutout when undefeated 145-pound Eric Daniels worked up a technical fall.

Garrett Fellman (125), Dalton Fleming (135), Dan Wolfrom (215), and Alex MacKenzie (112) accepted the forfeits for Upper Perkiomen, while teammates David Cannon (130), Mike McStravick (140), Joey Houk (152), Britt Kerr (160), Nick Edmonson (171), Nick Hale (189), and Martin McStravick (119) added their pins to Bennett's fall.

Dan Rodenberger's 10-2 major at 103 rounded out the Upper Perkiomen scoring.

"I told our kids that the stuff (Upper Perkiomen) beat us with tonight were basically headlocks and cross-face cradles," said Pottstown head coach Eric Dusko. "When you wrestle them, the headlock is no secret, and the cross-face cradle is no super move, either. But they do it, and do they ever do it well.

"We just couldn't defend either one. We couldn't stop either one. Our kids wrestled hard, though. We told them they just have to keep their heads up."

NOTES

Upper Perkiomen, which travels to Downingtown West tonight, has its annual PAC-10 showdown with visiting Boyertown next Wednesday night. ... The Trojans got some solid efforts from David DeBoer (130), Rashaad Lighty (152), Christian Fernandez (171) and Zane Bechtel (103) before getting pinned.

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